Brother, you ain't kidding about lifting something heavy. That is a New Process 203 transfer case. Me beloved middle brother was a little tyke helping me work on one of those monsters. I had it set in a homer bucket, switching out the front input shaft, and brother's job was to hold it so it wouldn't fall over. I turned around to grab a tool, and a random bird flew by and my bro turned loose of it to watch the bird, and the transfer case fell over and landed square on my right big toe. I may have said an ugly word or two.
I have to mention that you have solved a major issue with truck bed cranes. If you load from the side, they want to tip over and once you have them loaded, the suspension has sagged and whatever brace you propped it up with, is now stuck. So some designs have adjustable feet or a jack incorporated into the design. But you have solved this problem brilliantly by letting the vertical pole (and therefore the load) go to the ground and slide through the stabilizer attached to the truck! This is the only design of this kind that I have seen so far and I think it is great.
Now that seems like the easiest way to make a portable crane I've seen. I made one an mounted in the bed using junk I found, only bought a piece of wire rope and a pully. The wench I used was one from a junked boat trailer. Oh it would lift about 400/450 lbs, but was permitily mounted to the truck and looked like s hit . But your method is great thanks for the idea.
I've been researching and drafting up ideas/ plans for weeks. With the mindset of strength I passed right by the k.i.s.s. phase. I'll add that change into my plans. Thank you very much for this information.
Cool. I'm also looking for some ideas on how to make a custom/DIY crane for the homestead and this gave me some insights. Thank you and greetings from Portugal.
